Royce Da 5’9 and Eminem recently patched up their differences to release their chart-topping album Hell: The Sequel under the name Bad Meets Evil.

Speaking with Karmaloop TV, Nickel Nine, who said the Slaughterhouse album is 80 percent finished, explained how they initially reconciled and how collaborating was inevitable.

“As far as me and Em’s relationship and us patching things up, I think it was inevitable. It was something that had to happen, it was definitely something that was hanging over both our heads,” he said. “Especially with he passing of Proof. It made us realize that everything that we were going through was stupid, it was trivial. One day, he just called me out the blue and said, ‘Hey, what’s up man? What is this? What are we doing?’ And it stemmed from that. We put everything aside very quickly, things just got back to normal. Doing music just came with the territory.”

With their relationship back on track, Royce was ready to get back in the booth with Em, but with a unique approach. Instead of sitting in on each other’s sessions, each emcee would lay his vocals and leave the room.

“Friendly competition is always there when it comes to me and Em. That’s one of the things that makes us close. We got this thing, and only me and him do that, I don’t even really do this with Slaugtherhouse. When one of us goes in the booth, the other one leaves the room. We’re really big on the element of surprise. I don’t even want to blow the surprise. Lay everything down exactly how you want me to hear it and then I’ll come back in and listen to it,” he said. “When you’re around lyricists on that level, you’re automatically inspired. You have no choice but to be better. Otherwise, you get wiped up every time.”